Graduation Day
by Only Sometimes
Summary: Her mother wanted her to wear the stupid gold dress, so Ginny's wearing the stupid gold dress. But it's been a few years since she's worn it, and she's, well, grown...Who knew one dress could have such a, er, big effect on Ginny's graduation day?


Some might say McGonagall is OOC, but they way I see it, we never see her out of her role as teacher, so who knows?

The inspiration for this story came from my own genetics, where I am the smallest girl in the family with a C-cup (I kid you not). So it's a fun little fic, enjoy.

* * *

Molly Weasley looked herself over in the mirror of her bedroom, pleased with what she saw. She'd lost some weight, more from stress of the year before than diet, and her hair was all in place for once and she had her nicest robes on. She had actually done her make up, taken time and care this day, and she felt good about herself. 

Today was a very important day: her youngest was finally graduating. She fondly remembered her older children's graduation days, with Bill and Charlie and Percy with their high honors…the twins and Ron were a different story, but four out of seven actually finishing wasn't bad.

"Ready, Mollywobbles?" her husband asked from the doorway. He had put his best coat on for the occasion, and while it was a bit worn, Molly thought he looked mighty sharp.  
"Oh, yes! I do hope Ginny listened to me for once and wore her nice gold dress…It always went so nicely with her hair."

* * *

Ginny Weasley stood in front of the mirror in her dormitory, her hair done and her make up fixed. She was pleased with what she saw above the neck, but below…? 

It was her mother's fault. "Wear the gold dress, Ginny!" she had demanded, "It goes so well with your hair! And you never wear it." A suggestion never stayed a suggestion, it always ended as a scolding.

'Well, careful what you wish for,' Ginny thought to herself. She looked down at herself and frowned. She was reminded of why she never wore the gold dress.  
"You ready Gin--woah! What happened to you?" one of her fellow graduates asked from the doorway.  
"Nothing! Why do you ask?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"Well, because…"  
"Yes…?"  
"It looks like you did an enlarging spell on yourself, to be perfectly honest."  
Ginny frowned again, "That's what I thought…"

She had outgrown the dress. Quite a bit. It really did look like she had given herself an enlarging spell, but only in one very specific place. Okay, two to be technical.  
"How are you keeping those in there?" the other girl asked.  
"Tape. I borrowed some muggles double stick tape." Ginny grumbled. Her friend looked horrified, "I know, I'm not looking forward to taking it off…"

* * *

"Boys, will you please just sit! down! The ceremony is going to start soon!" Molly instructed her sons, who she thought that by now would be able to handle sitting down at a nice event.  
"Perce, sit on my other side."  
"What? Why? George, I am not about to get up just because you told me to."  
"I don't want you sitting on the side where I can hear you."  
"Boys! Knock it off!" Molly finally barked. 

Finally she settled in, leaning back in her chair, ready for the graduation to begin. Arthur smiled to himself and looked down the row they had filled for his daughter.

Ron was on the other side of Molly, his hand low and holding Hermione's who was next to him, looking quite pleased. Harry was next to her, chatting quietly with Charlie about quidditch. Bill was on the side of Charlie, giggling with Fleur as usual, and somehow tuning out George and Percy who were still squabbling.

* * *

"Oh, I am going to miss these graduates!" the Fat Lady chirped as the seventh year Gryffindors all climbed out of the portrait hole. "Good bye, dears! Good bye, Nigel! Good bye, Sarah! Good by--Merlin's beard, Miss Weasley! I didn't know there were two sets of twins in the family!" 

Ginny stopped in her tracks and turned around, her jaw dropped.

"Excuse me?!" she gasped, ignoring the giggles of those who had stopped to watch the spat.  
"Well, your graduation is certainly an interesting day to show off the assets, don't you think?" the painting giggled. Ginny put a protective hand over her chest, her jaw slack. Instinctively, she reached for her wand, but the crook of her elbow was quickly grabbed by Nigel, a blond haired boy with a toothy smile who pulled her away from the painting who was now howling with laughter.  
"Oh, I've got to tell Violet about this! Hey, Vi! VI! Guess which little graduates not as little as we thought?" Ginny heard the portrait hollering as she was dragged away by her laughing classmates.

* * *

"Oh, I've missed going to graduations! Honestly, Ronald, I don't know why you didn't want to go back and finish school. You could be getting all dressed up now, ready for the ceremony!" Molly gushed as she let her eyes droop, filled with the bliss that is motherly pride.  
"Wearing dress robes? Ugh. Did you buy some new ones for poor Gin?" Ron answered, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.  
"No, she's wearing a dress. They had the option, and the gold one always looked so nice on her."  
"The gold one? Bit old, isn't it?" Mr. Weasley piped in, a disturbing though crossing his mind.  
"Yes, I suppose, but she looks so nice in it." Molly answered, still in her state of bliss. "Why?"  
"Just wondering." Arthur answered, leaning back in his chair, a little worried for what was to come.

* * *

"Over here! Gryffindors, over here!" McGonagall was calling in the Great Hall, admiring her students as they lined up to graduate. 

On her way over to the professor, Ginny nearly landed flat on her face, not paying attention and walking right into Professors Flitwick.

"I'm so sorry, professor!" she gushed, bending over to help him up.

A very flustered Flitwick muttered something, not looking at Ginny at all and quickly scurried away before Ginny even got herself standing up.

"You might want to stand up straight, Ginny. Looks like a nargles nest is going to pop right out of there." Ginny looked and stood up to be eye level with Luna Lovegood.  
"What?" Ginny blinked, trying to reposition herself into her dress.  
"Nargles! They tend to nest in cleavage crevices. And your knockers are certainly big enough." Luna answered, very matter of factly.  
"Did you just call my chest knockers?"  
"Or hooters, boobies, anything really works. They certainly are large, aren't they? Perhaps melons would be the best term."  
"Luna, either you've lost it completely, or you're attracted to me."  
"Don't be silly, Gin. I only think you're nice."

With a call of her name, Luna skipped away to the rest of her class, over to Flitwick, who was making a very obvious point not to look at the Gryffindor section.

"Well, we certainly are letting it all hang out today, aren't we Miss Weasley?" Professor McGonagall smiled as Ginny took her place in line. She was greeted with snickers all around.

"Professor! Did you just make a boob joke?" she asked, shocked.

"Don't be so surprised, Ginny!" Madame Hooch laughed, "Most of us used to have figures to rival yours. Enjoy it while you can!"

Ginny looked around aghast, very aware that her face was turning red at the moment, but she doubted anyone took any notice to her face .

"Relax, Miss Weasley. It's just a bit of fun. Everyone thinks of the Weasleys as boys, and right now, you are obviously not a boy!" Madame Pomfrey told her as she helped Madame Hooch sort through students.  
"Everyone forgets that you're also a Prewett. I was here when there were Prewetts, and let me tell you! Didn't see a single flat one! I was worried for ya!" the old healer winked.  
"Why is everyone here right now? Where have all the sensible people gone?" Ginny wailed in frustration, making her friends giggle at her despair.  
"All the men are either on the other side of the room or left. Flitwick's beet red, Hagrid said something about going to help Grawp, and Filch is supposedly after Mrs. Norris. Everyone left ten minutes before you got here." McGonagall answered.  
"Ten minutes? Why?" Ginny questioned, perplexed.  
"Because your chest got here ten minutes before the rest of you did!" McGonagall was barely able to hold in her laughter as she said this, and she earned wild laughter from her house.  
"McGonagall! Why haven't we seen the fun side of you before?" one of the students asked through all the laughter, as a few of them wiped tears away from their eyes.  
"Well, you're all graduating now, I can let my hair down a bit." she answered, and stepping over to Ginny specifically, "And we both know the speech from the top student will be serious. This school saw a quite a bit last year, and it is still heavy in our hearts and minds. Perhaps during your speech as class favorite, we could hear something a bit lighter?" the older, wiser professor handed over the parchment Ginny had turned in to her weeks before.

Ginny had been selected as the favorite of her graduating class, and as tradition said, she was to give a speech, also. She looked at her neat handwriting, very unnatural for her, and thought of what she had written.

It had been serious, and it was quite heavy. The Ravenclaw who was top student probably had the same type of thing written. Well aware of what had just been propositioned to her, she promptly ripped the speech to shreds, letting it fall around her like confetti.

"All right then, Miss Weasley," McGonagall gave a small smile, and used a voice much closer to what she was known for.  
"What're you going to say now, Gin?" the girl who had first discovered Ginny in her dilemma dress asked.  
"Hell if I know." Ginny answered, her voice sure and steady.

* * *

"Hush! Hush! They're coming in!" Molly calmed her clan as the students all filed in to the special area set aside outside on campus. It was actually the quidditch field, but altered so the seating was around the field on the ground, and the poles were gone and the area well groomed. It was barely recognizable. 

Faces all across the stadium turned to watch the students file in, Slytherin first. Many of the audience were former students, and most hadn't been there since the last battle. Quite a few had left the school the year before, and were anxious to see how the students who followed them had recovered.

In came Hufflepuff next, then Ravenclaw, and finally the Gryffindors. It took a few minutes of searching before the Weasley groups eyes settled on a red head in a gold dress, and it took a few more minutes to process what they were seeing.

"Someone please tell me there is another red head graduating from Gryffindor who just happens to be wearing a gold dress." Bill breathed out, his heart in his throat.  
"My baby sister!" Charlie choked.  
"Oi! Eyes off my sister, Dean Thomas!" George ordered to Dean, who sat a few rows down next to Seamus and Neville.  
"To be fair, I used to date her!" Dean called back, calling for his own laugh track from Seamus.  
"I was afraid of this." Arthur mumbled, not sure if he could show his face at work in the morning.  
"Well, it's not too surprising. I mean, she is also a Prewett. We're not known for being sticks." Molly muttered, feeling a mix of pride and humiliation.

Harry wasn't quite sure where to look, and Hermione was trying to console a boiling Ron who looked ready to punch everyone in the stands. Percy, on the other hand just sort of shrugged it off.

"Well, it's not like everyone's going to notice. She's not the top of her class, she'll stay in her seat." Percy reasoned, staying the calmest of them all.  
"Actually, she was voted class favorite, so it seems she will in fact be getting out of her seat." George answered.  
"Well, shite." Percy responded.

* * *

There wasn't a dry eye in the place. The Ravenclaw had just finished her speech, and she was a very eloquent speaker. She stood there, tall and proud, her hair in braids that almost matched Angelina Johnsons, but longer, and done so tightly in had to be hurting her head even still, with tears running down her pristine face. 

'So much for my make up.' Ginny though to herself as tried to brush off the tears. She watched as McGonagall walked up to the podium, her face still shining with tears, to introduce her. Her stomach promptly fell to her toes for she was yet to figure out what to say.

"And now, I am very honored to introduce our final speaker, class favorite, and a member of my Gryffindor house, a girl who will be pursuing her passion this next season on the Holy Head Harpies, Miss Ginevra Weasley."

Ginny looked at her classmates her eyes wide with fear. She caught Luna's eye, who raised her hands on her chest, signaling to speak from the heart. This gave Ginny the perfect idea of what to say.

Walking up to the podium, she could her heart pounding so hard it overtook the sound of the applause from the stands and the woops from her fellow graduates and Madame Hooch, who was quite proud of future plans. McGonagall gave her a reassuring nod as she took a deep breath to speak.

"Many great things have happened in our school. Great, huge deals. Two in particular come to mind." there she had started, the next thing to do was keep talking, pausing at this moment for dramatic effect.

"I'm talking, of course, of my chest." The world stopped turning, and Ginny raised her chin, starting to feel confidence at last.

"Don't act like you didn't notice, they're big enough to fill a herd of nargles." she could see Luna beam through the sea of shocked and thrilled faces.

"And these," she brazenly clasped her hands to her chest, "these are what I want to be remembered for. Forget my face! My name! Remember these," she squeezed, "I don't want you to know me for dating the boy-who-lived over and over again, might as well change his name to the boy-who-just-won't-die, or for coming from the biggest, strangest family the wizarding world has ever seen, or for being able to take out guys twice my size in quidditch, I want you to remember me for my enormous hooters.

"Because, dammit, it's time to live again. We've all lost someone in the war, I've lost more than even I know to the whole bloody thing. But what's the point of surviving if we don't live? Why did any of us go through all of that if we're not going to enjoy life?"

'Don't throw up, don't throw, keep those cookies from being tossed,' she screamed inside her own mind.

"I have experienced more funerals in my life than births, and I expect many of you have been through the same. But I've also seen so many good things! I have people in my life who would steal a u-bend for me!" she could see George's grin spread as she reminded him of what he and Fred had attempted the year before she came to Hogwarts.

"I have spent an afternoon tea with a giant who is surprisingly good at handling a tea pot!" Grawp gave a sheepish grin and Hagrid cried without shame.

"I am almost positive I showed my professor more than cleavage less than an hour ago, and one of the strictest teachers I have ever had made fun of my chest as if she were my age! And why not follow her example? Let your hair down, kick your shoes off, and push your boobs out!"

'Say something profound! PROFOUND!' her brain screamed.

"And if you don't agree, well then, just fuck off!"

'Gods, you are an idiot.' her brain told her. 'Couldn't have just said sod, could you? Noooo, had to take it that extra step.'

To Ginny and her brains surprise, she was greeted with thunderous applause. Muggle parents, witches, wizards, the entire crowd was clapping, cheering, crying.

"Well done, Miss Weasley!" McGonagall exclaimed as she stepped back down to her seat. "Of course, if you were still my student, I would give you detention, but excellent otherwise!"

* * *

The Weasleys didn't know what to do. The boys all just sat there, dumbstruck, as their mother jumped up and down cheering, telling all those around her that that was her daughter, as if they didn't already know. 

"What just happened? Why is everyone cheering?" Harry gaped to Hermione, who was clapping harder than anyone around.  
"I can't believe her! She…I can't believe it." Hermione exclaimed, surprised and pleased.  
"No one can believe it, she just told us all to fuck off!" Ron pointed out, obviously agitated."She did more than that, Ronald. She just gave everyone permission to be happy again!" Hermione explained, truly amazed.  
"How?" Harry questioned, at a loss.  
"Because she told us to! She just said it was okay to move forward with life. It wasn't exactly conventional, but she did it."  
"All she did was talk about her chest!" Ron hollered, making Harry blush profusely.  
"Exactly! Unconventional, and in it's own twisted way, genius." Hermione continued.  
"I don't understand," Ron slumped.  
"If it wasn't your sister who had said it, you certainly would." Hermione stated.

* * *

"Brilliant, Gin!" Nigel greeted, "I can't believe you said fuck! What made you do it?"  
"Nargles." Ginny answered. "My brain has been infested with nargles." 


End file.
